First Car Trip

Since last year's trip to Hawaii, we have been extremely leery to travel with Emma. To say the plane ride was traumatizing to Doug is an understatement...anyway, I decided to give a short car ride trip a try, leaving Doug at home. Emma, Gramma Cheryl and I packed up and headed to Gatlinburg for 5 days for a test road trip. We purchased a DVD player set up with Barney CD's and this was a life saver for the ride to/from.

Emma traveled very well and even slept all night in the hotel room. Most mornings we were waiting for the princess to wake up so we could head off to breakfast and begin our day. She slept through both of us showering, chatting and peeking into the pack n' play at her. I brought all Emma's comforts from home I could...blankets, white noise CD etc. to make the trip as smooth as possible. We also kept her on the exact same schedule she is on at home as much as possible.

The first day, we took Emma on a small hike, on a paved path, then visited Cherokee shops, had lunch by the river then ice cream before we hopped back in the car. The ride from Cherokee to Gatlinburg is about an hour, so Emma took a car nap on the way back to the hotel and we went to The Old Mill for dinner later that evening. She woke up kind of early from her nap in the car and we think it was an elevation issue because she was playing with her ears.

The second day, we headed to Ripley's Aquarium and Emma loved the fish, but had to wear her sunglasses to tolerate the dark areas...I know, sounds strange. It is very clear Emma dislikes low light areas, even at home. We had the same issue at the Cincinnati Zoo, needing to make fast exits out of the Manatee exhibits and other darker areas. I need to ask her eye Dr. if this low light tolerance is related to her sight issues.

The third day we took Emma to Parrot Mountain, which I wasn't so sure about, but Emma LOVED the birds. If you get a chance to visit Parrot Mountain, do so. This is a very special garden and bird rescue sight that shouldn't be missed. We have a great picture of the 3 of us, with Macaws and Parrots all over Gramma Cheryl and Emma has a tiny Finch on her shoulder. Emma wanted the bird back because she kept pointing to her arm and saying "bird" when the picture was done.

In downtown Gatlinburg, there are a lot of motorcycles and the engines revving bothered Emma. We thought she would get used to the noise, but didn't and we found it odd the squawking birds didn't bother her at all. She still definitely has noise stimulation issues, especially in restaurants, so we tried to be near a window and away from the noisiest part of the restaurants. Overall, she ate well and did way better than expected with being away from her Daddy. We called Doug a few times a day and checked in, but Emma was usually too busy to talk to him. HA!

The last morning, Emma actually woke up before we were finished readying ourselves, so I cuddled her when she first woke up, sang her "good morning" song and tried to pass her off to Gramma for her morning milk so I could finish getting ready...Emma wasn't having this at all. I was surprised that after that many days together she melted down over the hand off, so I had to take her back for our morning routine. After that incident, all we heard was "no" on the drive home if we looked at her or tried to engage her, so we just let her be until she forgave us for trying to change her morning routine.

The next trip test will be a plane, probably to Dallas, TX. If that trip goes well, hopefully we can convince Dougie to travel with us again. I am still trying to get the courage to brave this plane trip by myself with Emma, so stay tuned!